(Posted earlier at dailykos, slightly updated and with added commentary here)

WaPo lets us in on how Kerry has been “raising the issue”:

…Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) has come out swinging. A senior aide close to Kerry said this week that Kerry is circulating a letter about the memo among Democratic senators before sending it to Bush. The aide predicted that Kerry would make the letter public in the next few days.

Hat tip to Mass and Pirate Smile at DU. More discussion at these DU posts:

WP: Democrats Looking for a Road Map to Downing Street (Kerry Letter to *)

and

Kerry and the DSM


For those who missed it, Kerry also issued (via an aide) another brief statement to a newspaper (Boston Phoenix) last Tuesday (Hat tip to Ron at LUTD):

“Senator Kerry believes every American deserves a thorough explanation of the Downing Street memo….John Kerry will demand answers in the Senate. Stay tuned.

You may not like the deliberate pace, but it seems to me he’s playing carefully so as to not blow it. The WaPo article suggested this may be the safer approach:

Two Democratic strategists I talked to said their party should forge ahead on the memo — but carefully.

Erik Smith, a former longtime adviser to former House minority leader Richard A. Gephardt, said that although there are “cracks in the president’s Teflon,” most voters are turned off by suggestions that he purposefully lied to make the case for war.

I think a lot of folks in the blogosphere smell blood in the water and want to go in for the kill, with an immediate, direct strike. I don’t think that’s Kerry’s way, though.  And given what happened with the TANG memos, I can’t say I blame him – or the rest of our Senate leaders, who are no doubt working with him on this. Let it seep into the public’s consciousness gradually. Raise it in a way that cannot be written off as “strident” or “crazy” – like the RW spin machine tried to do when Kerry first mentioned it, by immediately trying to say he was calling for impeachment – so that he would be written off as crazy, even though he never said anything like that.  If you’ve been watching the google news hits, you’ve seen we are gaining ground every day. To me, that means we’re doing something right.

drip…  drip…   drip…

Related Posts at Freedom’s Fire

Potential (R) Response to Kerry on DSM, and why it’s bunk
More on “Iraqi Liberation Act” of 1998
More Dems Speak Out on Downing Street Minutes
“Where’s Kerry on DSM?” He got there first. (read it before you yell at me.)
Senator Boxer joins DSM fray
Glowing Embers (Kerry to “raise” DSM in Washington)

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